KUALA LUMPUR – The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) have teamed up with the National Sports Council (NSC) to form the Under-20 FAM-NSC Project Squad – a development team that will be included in the forthcoming season of the M-League after meeting recent approval by the Malaysian Football League (MFL).
In an effort to create a pathway for young talents — from the National Football Development Program (NFDP), which include graduates from the Mokhtar Dahari Academy (AMD) — to transition to the senior rung and be adequately exposed to competitive matches, this budding squad will become the 11th team in the 2021 Premier League.
Subject to their performance and the respective agreement between their employers and the team management, NFDP graduates who have signed up to play in the Super League and Premier League can be absorbed into the Project Squad on a loan basis.
Selected from amongst MD graduates, Youth Cup and President's Cup players, sports schools and District Training Centres (PLD) under NFDP, it is understood that a total of 30 trainees will form the pioneering squad.
Apart from exposure to domestic and international competitions as well as the opportunity to further their studies at selected institutions of higher learning, these players will be based at the NSC and be given allowances, meals, accommodation and medical support.
Together with the support of the National Sports Institute (NSI) on science, medical and technology, former national player, Yusri Che Lah, who has been appointed head coach, will be assisted by Noor Zaidi Rohmat, Hamsani Ahmad and Nor Ikhmar Madarsa in the role of assistant coach, goalkeeper coach and physical conditioning coach respectively.
Beginning this week, Yusri, 44, will conduct the selection process and is expected to list the second generation of AMD graduates as his core players.
After a series of brainstorming discussions between FAM and NSC over the past few months, the decision to form the squad was made to ensure that NFDP talents between the crucial ages of 18 and 20 do not miss out on competitive matches.
On top of forming the core for the victorious AFF Cup in 2010 and filling in the gaps in the existing structure of the NFDP, FAM sees the collaboration with NSC as the key to recreating the environment which led to the Harimau Muda win at the 2009 and 2011 SEA Games.
“This is a good formula for our development program. We need to give these young players the exposure, but we need to have patience because success doesn’t come overnight.
“We have been discussing this for a long time. We went back to the drawing board because we felt that it was the right thing to do,” said FAM Deputy President Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal during the team launch at Wisma FAM yesterday.
Subahan added that the Project Squad is a continuation of the development strategy for the players within the national football structure.
“Good players will be identified in advance by the teams in the local league matches, but for late developers, they will have a second shot through the Project Squad,” he added.
Besides releasing the cream of the crop into the existing system, the Project Squad will provide a platform for talented players who wish to balance their careers with academic pursuits, hence the value-added scholarship offer.
Although it is a development squad, players who excel will form the core of the national squad to compete at the 2021 Vietnam SEA Games, the 2022 AFC Under-23 qualifying round, the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games, 2023 Cambodia SEA Games and the 2024 AFC Under-23 qualifiers as well as various other AFF competitions.
The Project Squad will be run by a management team committee chaired by former Sabah team manager from 2003-2005, Mohd Joehari Mohd Ayub, who is also the FAM Vice President.
FAM and NSC will announce the sponsors and educational partners soon. – The Vibes, 10 December, 2020
